If you are Arthur Bruno, father of the excellent Titan Quest, the recipe for a great aRPG is more than simple: go to all forums that gather fans of the genre, go to Reddit, gather the core from defunct Iron Lore Entertainment, inspire them with the soul of Diablo, pepper with elements from the novels of legendary authors such as Lovecraft, Barker and King, and invest every last dime gathered through various crowd-funding campaigns. Ladies and gentleman, what we have before us is the spiritual successor to Diablo II – Grim Dawn.
By its very name the game points to the kind of world your character is going to inhabit. The character creation seems woefully simple at first glance. Grim Dawn let’s you choose the level of difficulty and if you’re a male or a female… and that’s it. There are no additional options, no appearance customization, no choice of a class – male or female, the end. However, what comes next reveals the true beauty of this game. Your character starts out as one of the “possessed” by mystical Aethers who, together with Ct’Thon’s (C’Tun perhaps?) demons, are responsible for the post-apocalyptic surroundings with barely any people left, and those that have survived are absolutely paranoid. You’ll be intimately introduced to how true that is, by starting the game strung high up from a tree with a rope around your neck. Luckily for you, the Aether who possessed you leaves your body, and the inhabitants of Devil’s Crossing give you another chance, in the form of a sword and a shield, and a “plea” to redeem yourself in their eyes.
You’ll spend most of the game’s beginning wielding all sorts of base weapons which are available to all classes. Classes? What classes? Although you start the game as nobody who was literally just scooped from under the gallows, by progressing through levels you’ll unlock bonus points that you can invest into one of the six basic classes: Soldier, Demolitionist, Occultist, Nightblade, Arcanist and Shaman. Hitting level ten opens up the possibility of choosing a secondary class, which further influences the variety and number of ways to play Grim Dawn. The guys from Crate Entertainment made sure that wasn’t all though, so the progression is complemented by the Devotion system, which reminds us of a simpler version of Path of Exile’s skill system. Devotion system functions based on Devotion points which you collect by finding and interacting with various shrines that are scattered all over the world of Grim Dawn, and which you can invest into different “constellations” that provide additional bonuses if you completely unlock them. Finally, this great system features Spirit Guides who you will encounter from time to time, and who will refund your skill and Devotion points without penalty, allowing you to try out different builds and combinations.
Each class is different, and Grim Dawn doesn’t even allow you to think otherwise when it comes to gameplay, as well as with audio/visual representation. Casting spells and keeping the distance as an Arcanist is miles different than the reckless charging approach of the Soldier, who plows into the enemies with abandon, followed by them flying everywhere after the collision and a loud “boooom”.
Progressing through the game was done more than well enough. Just like every hack’n’slash aRPG to date, Grim Dawn drowns you in unrealistically huge droves of enemies from the get go, who then drop tons of different items, equipment, armor and weapons. More enemies slain means higher level of your character and better equipment, which then leads to more difficult regions patrolled by even tougher enemies who drop even better loot, ad nauseam. On the other hand, learning the story is mainly done through finding different journals which are scattered all over the world, so the player can choose to simply destroy all plant, animal and monstrous life forms, if he so chooses. Moreover, the world of Grim Dawn is populated by different factions that the player can gain reputation with, and depending on their standing can reap various benefits, such as an offer of excellent gear, or an opportunity to encounter more difficult opponents, which includes Nemesis’. You’ll be thrilled when you meet one, believe me *muahahahahaha*.
Excellent graphics, excellent sound, beautiful effects, efficient combat system, elegant game progression system, huge variety of enemies and regions – certainly a “must have” for anyone itching for some Diablo II action, and we trust there are quite a few of you.
Author: Petar Vojinović
Grim Dawn
Pros:
- Appealing to all senses
- Excellent combat and leveling systems
Cons:
- Sporadic stuttering for no apparent reason
